The espresso and the cappuccino weren't the only things steaming Tuesday at the newly opened Insomnia coffeehouse in the Fairfax district of Los Angeles. Artist Tommy Dougherty was, too. Two dozen of his expressionistic paintings--including some depicting bare-breasted women--may face banishment because of complaints from the leader of a synagogue across the street.

Cecily Brown seems as though she's belting it out in her large, athletically brushed paintings now at Gagosian. But instead of powerful and passionate, her voice comes across as detached. The volume is turned up, but the verve is on low. London-born and living in New York, Brown bases several of her recent paintings on a photograph of a large group of nude women that appeared on the British release of a 1968 Jimi Hendrix album. PHOTOS: Arts and culture in pictures by The Times Brown preserves the odd theatricality of the image, with all members of the ensemble facing us, seated or in semi-seductive forward leans.

Cecily Brown seems as though she's belting it out in her large, athletically brushed paintings now at Gagosian. But instead of powerful and passionate, her voice comes across as detached. The volume is turned up, but the verve is on low. London-born and living in New York, Brown bases several of her recent paintings on a photograph of a large group of nude women that appeared on the British release of a 1968 Jimi Hendrix album. PHOTOS: Arts and culture in pictures by The Times Brown preserves the odd theatricality of the image, with all members of the ensemble facing us, seated or in semi-seductive forward leans.

Nude women have been on the menu at the Sutler for years, but the Nashville pub covered up the 19th century Victorian photos after being warned they might be too racy for state law. The Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission decided Wednesday that only one photo showing a woman's genital area was off-limits, but by then every nipple on the menus had been covered in black marker.

Sheriff's deputies acting on an anonymous tip broke up a party involving about 200 men and up to 20 women performing a variety of sexual acts, authorities said today. Four women ranging from 21 to 25 years old were arrested for investigation of lewd conduct in a public place after the 6 p.m. Sunday raid at a banquet hall near Los Angeles International Airport, Sheriff's Deputy Gabe Ramirez said.

A new national newspaper funded heavily by left-wing municipalities, labor unions and leftist sympathizers made its debut Sunday and promised not to print photos of nude women, a staple of London's racier tabloids. The weekly tabloid, News on Sunday, is the only national newspaper not owned by business interests, apart from the daily Communist Morning Star, which has a circulation of 28,000. News on Sunday printed 1.

Nude women have been on the menu at the Sutler for years, but the Nashville pub covered up the 19th century Victorian photos after being warned they might be too racy for state law. The Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission decided Wednesday that only one photo showing a woman's genital area was off-limits, but by then every nipple on the menus had been covered in black marker.

A new mural depicting the city's history is provoking an unintended reaction among some viewers who notice a tall woman with short hair and glasses, dancing naked: Isn't that ... the governor? No, it's not, but the buzz over the resemblance of the bordello dancer to Gov. Judy Martz was enough to compel her to take a field trip with top aides to the building near downtown Helena where the mural is displayed.

Bill Sandusky makes largish Photorealist nudes, some in oil, others in pastels. We see coiffed and manicured Asian and Caucasian women who look as if they'd be right at home (with more clothes on) at any of Venice's hip cafes. Here they lounge alone or in pairs on overstuffed chairs, bar stools and love seats or look wistfully away from us in dramatically lit interiors. The sensibility is not erotic nor is it the left-handed nudity we see in work like David Salle's.

The Pirelli calendar isn't an ode to rubber any more than the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue is a display of beachwear. Published intermittently since 1964, the stylishly photographed calendar distributed to celebrities and friends of the Italian tire company has come to be known as the world's most exclusive New Year's gift.

A new mural depicting the city's history is provoking an unintended reaction among some viewers who notice a tall woman with short hair and glasses, dancing naked: Isn't that ... the governor? No, it's not, but the buzz over the resemblance of the bordello dancer to Gov. Judy Martz was enough to compel her to take a field trip with top aides to the building near downtown Helena where the mural is displayed.

Conceding that management failures contributed to a sexual harassment scandal in the Los Padres National Forest, U.S. Forest Service officials recommended Tuesday that 10 supervisors be suspended from three to 30 days. In addition, Forest Service officials said letters of warning have been sent to 13 temporary and two permanent Forest Service employees in connection with the discovery in September that two Forest Service crew carriers contained numerous photos of scantily clad women.

A series of photographs in an adult-oriented magazine featuring naked or semi-naked women at several city landmarks has Mayor Bob Price hot under the collar. The May 2000 edition of the magazine Hometown Girls includes photos of two women posing at a variety of locations, including the Bakersfield sign and City Hall. "It disgusted me," said Price.

Q: Where I work, each person is given a work cubicle and decorates it how they see fit. Some have plants and family pictures. One guy even hangs up a calendar of nude women. Recently, I hung up a poster of the Ten Commandments. My manager told me that I had to take it down since a couple of the guys have complained bitterly that they were offended by it. However, when I told my boss earlier that the nude calendar was offensive to me, I was told that I had to "lighten up." What should I do?

The Pirelli calendar isn't an ode to rubber any more than the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue is a display of beachwear. Published intermittently since 1964, the stylishly photographed calendar distributed to celebrities and friends of the Italian tire company has come to be known as the world's most exclusive New Year's gift.

Anaheim Street in Wilmington is a picture window on what might be the bleakest landscape in Los Angeles--24-hour diners and girlie bars with big-rig parking; great gas flares that shoot up into the night; oil-field stink and, when the wind is right, a blast of fish guts from the Terminal Island canneries. Anaheim Street is the back alley to the working part of the harbor.

--The City Council in Fitzgerald, Ga., fearing that children might peek under a drape covering two paintings of nude women, has canceled an art exhibition at a library. The nudes were part of a 12-piece exhibition by Athens, Ga., artist Jeff Hull. "People may call it art, but I don't," City Council member Prentice Brown said. "There are moral factors involved, particularly in the case of our young kids."

Three nude women were found chained to a sewer pipe Wednesday in the basement of a row house and police said they found body parts elsewhere in the house that may represent two bodies. A fourth woman escaped from the house during the night and summoned police, who said the women, aged 18 to 24, may have been chained for up to three months. Neighbors said they had complained to police about noise and a smell of burning flesh, but police said they had no record of such complaints.

While debate rages in America over the level of violence in entertainment programming, Hollywood continues to spew out a steady stream of graphic movies to the world, many that end up on video in foreign countries. For months Hollywood has been under siege by the White House, the Justice Department and segments of the public to clean up its act, forcing TV networks to tone down the content of shows and movie studios to boost production of family films. Yet, for the past week in sun-drenched Santa Monica, hundreds of international buyers are trekking to the Loews Hotel for this year's American Film Market, on the hunt for product to fill their theaters, video outlets and air waves in their respective nations.

A national men's issues magazine featuring photos of naked women is set to publish its premier issue later this month. Gentlemen's Choice in Costa Mesa is the product of publisher Robert Scott's view of the world, he said, and he believes other middle-class American men will agree with him. In Scott's view, feminists are using the courts to curb men's rights. "It's really hard now, between the workplace and personal life. You say hello to a woman, and she can call it harassment," said Scott, 35.